It was tough-luck Wednesday for Anderson Espinoza in Osaka, “let’s throw away a lead in the name of history” Wednesday in Yokohama, and Dragons’ drought-ending Wednesday at Tokyo Dome.
In other news, Giants lefty Foster Griffin rejoined the team for the first time since he was deactivated following an oblique muscle injury suffered on April 6 against the DeNA BayStars.
In South Korea, SSG Landers slugger Choi Jeong set KBO’s career home run record Wednesday with his 468th, eight days after he pulled into a tie with former Lotte Marines, Yomiuri Giants and Orix Buffaloes slugger Lee Seung Yuop.
According to Yeohap’s Yoo Jee Ho, Lee set his record in 1,906 career games, while Choi needed 2,183 to match him. Lee hit 159 homers in Japan over 797 games.
Wednesday’s games
Buffaloes 4, Lions 3: At Osaka UFO Dome, Seibu scored three ninth-inning runs off Yoshihisa Hirano, costing Anderson Espinoza his fourth win, but Kenya Wakatsuki‘s ninth-inning leadoff single set the table for Kotaro Kurebayashi‘s walk-off single.
Marwin Gonzalez homered off a low 1-2 fastball from rookie Natsuki Takeuchi to open the scoring in the third. Leandro Cedeno doubled and scored on a Tomoya Mori single. It was the second hit for each. Mori scored from second on a Yuma Mune single.
Takeya Nakamura homered to open the ninth against Orix closer Yoshihisa Hirano, Ryusei Sato tripled high off the wall and scored when Shota Hiranuma doubled. The runner was sacrificed to third, Jesus Aguilar struck out, ShuJta Tonosaki walked and Yuji Kaneko got a happy 34th-birthday single off the end of the bat to tie it.
Continue reading NPB news: April 24, 2024